Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Game 151: Yankees vs. Blue Jays

TORONTO — Will Canada see history? Well, there’s at least a chance. Joe Girardi was asked pregame today if there was any way he’d put somebody else in if there’s a save situation so that Mariano Rivera can get the saves record at Yankee Stadium (where the Yanks begin an eight-game homestand Monday). The answer was what you’d expect: Not a chance.

Girardi did nail down his rotation for early next week: Ivan Nova will pitch on Tuesday, CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes will start Wednesday’s doubleheader (not sure what order yet) and Bartolo Colon will go on Thursday. As for the lineup? Joe wants to give some guys a little rest.

“The guys have been going so hard, I figured we have an important 10 days coming up, try to give them a little bit of a blow,” Girardi said. “[Curtis Granderson] and [Derek Jeter] have really struggled against [Brandon] Morrow in their career, and I just thought today would be the day.”

105 Comments

Congrats Mariano, as a longtime Yankee fan it has been a pleasure to watch your ability over these years. Your hardwork and longevity has paid off as you are now the GREATEST closer of all-time. But all of us Yankee fans already knew that since 1996.

Girardi How many *amn times are you going to send this IDIOT A jerk to the mound? He is a TOTAL FAILURE. Stop putting this bum out there. The Twins are one of the worse teams in the AL, he’s staked to a 5-1 lead and once again A JERK BUSTnett cannot get out of the 5th inning. Stick his tattooed Arse in the bullpen and leave him there. ENOUGH!!!! The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Enough of A Jerk, and do him and us fans a favor at the end of the season, SEND HIM OUT OF NY.

Ultimately i’d much sooner see us lose to Toronto than to either Tampa or Boston, ofcourse neither is an ideal situation, but in a 162 game season you’re gonna lose on average more than 50 games a season – might as well make them to people who aren’t going to haunt you!

I hope Girardi is happy with the result today. What a weak effort! it was a sad display of baseball. The rest better pay off! I’ve already had a few Blue Jays call me and rub it in. Thanks Cujo! Certainly Mo didn’t get a change to pass Hoffman today.

RGK–which part of the split-squad will we get tomorrow, the big league part or the minor league part. If it’s a combination there’s got to be a lot more big league than minor league to win even if it’s against a struggling Twins team. The Yankees can’t afford to take too many days off and coast.

These Blue Jays commentators up here, Buck Martinez and his buddy talking about how great Morrow pitched, retiring 17 batters in a row. 17 batters? I wouldn’t call many of them batters. Not in this league. We had very few batting today and it looked like guys like ARod and Cano weren’t trying very hard because they felt Girardi had given up on the game and the series. AT least that’s how it looked given the effort and result.

Another day off for the Yankees even though they were playing! A no-nothing game that Girardi forfeited and gave to the Jays, happy to lose the series in order to rest half his team. I sure hope it pays off and they come out tomorrow well rested and producing. If they don’t then someone has some explaining to do.

I guess pinch hitting Posada for pena, would not be good because Posada needs the rest?..I’m not quite getting this rest thing?…any of your guys seeing this here?
Pena is the worst hitter on our team and you have 100 million dollars worth of great hitters and Girardi lets Pena hit?…..I guess I’ll just watch the rays and sox at least those 2 teams are trying to win their games…see ya!!!

Maybe this is one of those moments where i realise i don’t know the game, but why the heck would you intentionally walk Bautista to face Lind who’s already went 2-2 with 2 long balls? That’s not clever to me – i know it worked in our favour, but eeesh, way to give me high blood pressure, thankfully being this side of the pond i have the NHS otherwise i’d never watch sport!

I agree it would be disappointing to pay full price to go see a Scranton vs Jays game…this info should be put out in advance, we are playing mostly Scranton players, so the game price should be reduced accordingly…fans get screwed again..its BS!!

I got to say, I don’t have that much of a problem with nunez trying for second there…a single would bring him in, there’s two outs?…It looks bad because Toronto played it well…just good to see someone go the other way with a pitch and get a hit, instead of everybody swinging for homers!!!

Rookie in the outfield gets a slow jump on the ball and Scott Proctor in to pitch. Isn’t this wonderful? I’m glad I didn’t buy tickets to go to this game today and watch the B team in action. I wouldn’t have been a happy camper.

Can anybody tell me where Nunez head is? he makes so many stupid rookie mistakes whether running the bases or fielding. He’s not near ready for the big league. Hopefully he won’t have to be played much down the stretch or nor at all in the playoffs. This is men against boys here today. Awful to watch.

To be brutally honest though we’ve already got more out of Garcia & Colon than really anyone could have anticipated when they were signed – starting to look like they’re on the motorway lookin for the nearest service station! I agree that resting as many “starters” in one game is a bit dim witted, but when you look at our schedule it’s really the only time he can do it, from here on out you’ve got Sox & Rays except for a single game against the Twins. It had to be tonight or you’d face the prospect of them going 11 games in 10 days – with our lineup beaten up the way it currently is that wasn’t going to happen.

3 is not an insurmountable lead but they don’t have the guys in the lineup today that they had yesterday. Too many important bats on the bench. The Yankees just had a day off. Why would players making what they’re making need another day off? I’m with Bill. Don’t see why so many are being rested when we need to win every series. We don’t want to coast or limp into the playoffs. Need to stay sharp and keep the momentum going.

Personally I think we’ve seen the best from Garcia and Colon this year. They’ve held up until now but I think fatigue is setting in and showing. I would suggest that a 3 man rotation of starters in the playoffs would be the way to go, CC, Nova and Hughes. I don’t think AJ or Garcia or Colon are showing down the stretch that they’re going to be counted on in thebig games. No offense here tonight for the yankees with the guys they’ve got in the lineup. Laffey didn’t get it done. Now it’s up to Ayala to get out of this jam.

Chavez at first hasn’t played there all year, nunez at second, very few games there, pena at shortstop?…Gardner in center, no granderson…no cano, no tex, no jeter…all in one game….I’m upgrading Girardi back to CluelessJoe….we need to rest half the team in the same game?…and why?…when we clinch this, if we do, you can give everyone a week off?…don’t get the thought process…clinch then rest…not rest and take a shot at dropping a full game in the standings?

Isn’t that essentially “ruled out” having 2 teams from the same division meeting in the LDS? But still, not exactly a bright start, but we were further back yesterday – bloop & a blast and we’re right back in it.

We may have more to fear from the Rays than the Sox if the Rays win the wild card and the wild card games in the playoffs. Will we play them if they win the wild card matchup in the playoffs? Hope not.

I guess Girardi see this as a throw away game with the lineup he’s got. Resting the starters and playing the back ups. It’s obviously the B team and with Freddy pitching, if he pitches like his last 2 outings, we’re in for a long afternoon and a losing one. it would take a real fluke or miracle to pull this one out. And we end up losing the series, hoping I guess that the Sox lose to the Rays. Girardi wants to rest his guys and I guess that’s important but they need to win every game too to make sure they stay inthe lead.

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